An Answer to Prayer

Jennifer Lake is a mom, member of the Fountain Sunday School class, leader of the Together Gathered In Faith mom’s bible study group and a member of our church. She has been a member here since she got married in 2007. Soon after joining, she and her husband Ben attended a dinner party along with some other young adults: Spencer Chaney, Rudy and Veanne Torres. They were asked to think about starting a Young Adults Sunday school class because there wasn’t one here at the time. This became, in Jennifer’s words, “A blessing and an answer to prayer”. You see, she had been hoping to find a small group that would help to nourish her spirit and nurture her faith.

She had always had a strong churched background; growing up in the Episcopal church she was heavily involved in youth groups and Sunday school as a child and teenager. However, she hadn’t yet found the spiritual connections at First UMC that she needed, to support her growing faith journey.

Spencer Chaney took the lead on this request and got them going. The name of their class comes from the scripture, Proverbs 14:27 and they are developing a strong group of spiritual friends with an average weekly attendance of 14-15, three times the size of their original small group. Members of the class take turns leading on different Sundays which provides different perspectives to their discussions, allows different members to develop their own leadership skills and takes the pressure off a single person on an ongoing basis.

In addition to learning more of God’s word in their lives, members of the Fountain Sunday school class have learned to serve and share in the life of our church by participating in our worship service as ushers. It is a natural way to meet people and to share God’s grace with others. Some of the women in the class formed a monthly book club because they realized they wanted to enjoy more of each other’s company and build their relationship beyond Sunday morning activities. So they started reading and meeting once a month. As a result of that, the husbands of the “book club girls” began to have a guy’s night out as well. They meet for dominoes or dinner once a month, making sure to do so on different nights than the book club so they can take turns caring for their children.

Jennifer believes that a big reason for the closeness in their group is because of the phase of their lives they are sharing. Many are parents of younger children so conversations about parenting have created a natural support system that is fed by their spiritual perspective. When Jennifer became a mom in the last year, she discovered even more of a need for spiritual companionship and accountability in her life. She eventually formed the Together Gathered In Faith mom’s bible study where she is building strong friendships and receives for herself the accountability she needs in her spiritual walk.

This is a remarkable story of responding to God’s grace and claim in our lives. Jennifer is very intentional about her relationship with God and strives to learn more each day, and to share his grace with others. Her Sunday school class, Fountain has been an answer to prayer.

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For more information about the Fountain Sunday School Class, please contact Rudy and Veanne Torrez or Jennifer herself. For more information about the Together Gathered in Faith mom’s bible study, please contact Jennifer Lake.